Seven Penguin Random House titles for World Book Night 2017

On 23 April 2017, Penguin Random House will donate 14,000 books to organisations across the country, including care homes, youth centres, prisons and public libraries as part of World Book Night. World Book Night is an annual celebration of books and reading, run by The Reading Agency charity.

For the first time next year, The Reading Agency will work more closely with organisations across the UK to match books with readers in a more targeted way, focusing on reaching the following target audiences:

adults with low literacy levels or who don’t read for pleasure

isolated and vulnerable older people

LGBTQ groups

men and women of all ages in UK prisons

parents and vulnerable pregnant women

those with mental health issues

young people who don’t read for pleasure

Penguin Random House books on the list

We will donate 14,000 books in total, made up of seven titles:

Wonder - R J Palacio

Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi

Streets of Darkness - A. A. Dhand

Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy - Helen Fielding

Mr Loverman - Bernardine Evaristo

The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83¼ Years Old - Anonymous

Sue Wilkinson, Chief Executive of The Reading Agency said: “Our aim with World Book Night has always been to reach and develop new readers. This new approach, developed in consultation with our publisher partners, will make us better able to do so. Working with our community of enthusiastic readers as well as businesses, we’re excited about being able to get brilliant books to those who haven’t yet encountered them.”

Bernadine Evaristo, author of Mr Loverman, said: “This is a fantastic book promotion scheme that provides a great opportunity to introduce a range of literature to new audiences. I’m delighted to be a part of it.”

The impact of World Book Night

After World Book Night 2015, 80% of recipients who said they previously never read or read less than once a month said that they had read more since World Book Night.

After the 2016 event, a follow-up survey gleaned further positive results: 99% of recipients said that they were pleased to have been given a World Book Night title as a gift; 72% had already recommended the book to someone else; while 47% had gone on to buy more books and 37% had borrowed more books from the library.

Involving community volunteers

As well as this giveaway through organisations, The Reading Agency will continue to encourage individuals to gift their own or newly bought books and record this via a newly created Goodreads community.